May 19, 2015 | By RGR Marketing Blog

An Unlikely Green Champion

Five years ago, if you were asked to compile a short list of U.S. cities most likely to embrace renewable power, Georgetown, Texas would not have been an odds-on favorite. After all, the Lone Star State has long been a bastion of big oil, and renewable energy is typically considered a pet cause of left-leaning environmentalists, a demographic that tends to be pretty scarce in rural Texas.

And unlike nearby Austin, Georgetown itself is on the conservative side of the spectrum, even for Texas. Nearly half of its residents are over the age of 50, and more than 60% of its voters are registered Republicans.

Money Talks in Georgetown, TX

So why has this conservative Anytown, USA decided to make the switch to wind farms and solar plants? As it turns out, the move was prompted not by environmental concern, but by economics. And while some of the town’s residents may still deny the legitimacy of climate change science, few would dispute the benefits of cold, hard cash.

Texas’ electricity market is deregulated, which means municipally owned utilities are free to choose from a wealth of different options. When Georgetown’s utility company analyzed the economics of all the available options, they made a surprising discovery: renewable energy was actually a more financially prudent choice than traditional power.

And so, city officials inked a 20-year agreement with wind energy provider EDF, and made a deal with SunEdison, which will provide the town with 150 megawatts of clean, green solar energy. This mix of solar and wind will allow the town to source all of its electricity needs from renewable sources, as wind production tends to pick up during the evenings, just as solar is winding down for the evening.

Renewable Energy Is a Boon for Georgetown, Texas

The move has been met with generally positive feedback from the town’s residents. By sourcing electricity from wind and solar, the local utility has insulated residents against wildly fluctuating commodity prices, which can play havoc on monthly electricity bills. Renewables are currently quite competitive with traditional power sources, and they’re poised to become an even more attractive option as finite resources are depleted.

And as it turns out, fixed energy costs aren’t the only benefit that Georgetown stands to gain from going green. The town has recently been courted by businesses far and wide, seeking to relocate to Georgetown to boost their ecological credentials. In a place where all the energy is sourced from wind and solar, going green is as easy as flipping a light switch.

Texas Green Energy = Greenbacks

Texas is a politically conservative state. But Texans also tend to be a pragmatic bunch, and they’re not the types to turn their noses up at sensible solutions to real-world problems.

The main takeaway for other states, regardless of political orientation, is that renewable energy is no longer the domain of staunch environmentalists and Hollywood celebrities, willing to make financial sacrifices for the sake of a rhetorical point. At this stage, it’s become a very practical and economical choice, and its appeal will only grow in the years to come.

[Photo Via: GovTech]

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